Gramophone.



R. N. DE LA RUE.

GRAMOPHONE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 14 1914.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

UN ITE STATES PATENT FFICE.

GRAMOPHONE.

Specification of Letters latent.

. Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

Application filed December 14, 1914. Serial No. 877,252.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, REGINALD WVARREN on LA RUE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at The Lodge, Six Mile Bottom, Newma-rket, county of Cambridge, England, have invented new and useful Improvements Relating to Gramophones, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the starting and stopping of the electric motors by which gramophones are sometimes driven.

The term gramophone is intended to include all talking machines of a similar type in which a rotating record disk is used.

According to this invention an electric circuit is made and broken by the movement of the tapered arm carrying the sound box and the electric motor for driving the gramophone is thereby started and stopped.

In one way of carrying out the invention the current is led by a brush carried by a bracket on a stationary part of the gramophone to a segment of conducting material secured to but insulated from the vertical part of the tapered arm, the segment being so arranged that the circuit is made when the arm is placed in the starting position and broken when the tune or reproduction is finished. In order to insure a complete break in the circuit the needle is guided to the center of the record at the end of the reproduction by a groove or a raised line.

To minimize the sparking between the segment and brush which causes a roughness which interferes with the swinging of the arm, I employ a relay operated by a battery of small'E. M. F. to make and break the current which operates the motor, or in place of a relay I connect a condenser to the segment and brush.

In the drawings which illustrate the invention Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing the conducting segment on the tapered arm of a gramophone the circuit being broken. Fig. 2 is a diagram-showing the electrical connections. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an alternative method for minimizing sparking when the circuit is broken.

1 is the tapered arm, the vertical part 2 of which carries insulating material 3, to which is secured the conducting segment 4.

5 is the brush for conveying the current, carried by the bracket 6 on a stationary part of the gramophone.

The record disk 7 is provided with a groove or ridge 8 and a circular groove 9, so that at the end of the reproduction, the needle 10, and sound box 10*, together with the tapered arm, are moved quickly toward the center of the record disk, thereby quickly and definitely breaking the circuit.

In Fig. 2, 11, 12 are the mains, the main 11 passing through the double switch 13 to the fuse block 14 and thence through the relay 15 to the electric motor 16 driving the record, the other main 12 leading to the fuse block 14 and thence to the other terminal of the motor 16. 17 are the wires of a low E. M. F. circuit. The current passes from the battery 18 to the segment 4, thence by the brush 5 and bracket 6 to the relay 15, through the double switch 13 and back to the battery 18.

In' Fig. 3 the current from the main 19 passes through the motor 16, segment 4, brush 5 and switch 20, and a condenser 21 is connected to the segment 4 and brush 5, to prevent sparking when the circuit is made or broken by the movement of the tapered arm 1.

The operation is as follows :The tapered arm is movedby hand away from the center of the record disk 7 and the needle 10 placed at the outer edge of the disk. As soon as the conducting segment 4 comes into contact with the brush 5 the circuit is completed and the motor started. When the reproduction is finished the needle and tapered arm are quickly moved by the groove 8 to the groove 9 thus causing the segment 4 to leave the brush 5 and make a rapid-break in the circuit thus stopping the motor.

What I claim is 1. In a gramophone, the combination with the record disk of a sound-box-carrying arm, an insulated conducting segment carried by the arm, a stationary brush bearing for a time on the segment, a motor for the disk and circuit wires connecting the motor with the segment and brush.

2. In a gramophone, the combination with a record disk of a sound-box-carrying arm, an insulated conducting segment carried by the arm, a stationary brush bearing for a time on the segment, a motor for the disk and circuit Wires connecting the motor with the segment and brush, said disk being provided with means for moving the sound box carrying arm suddenly at the end of the record to quickly separate the segment from the brush.

3. In a gramophone, the combination with a recorddisk of a sound-box-carrying arm, an insulated conducting segment carried by the arm, a stationary brush bearing for a timeon the segment, a'motor for the disk, circuit wires connecting the motor with the segment and with the brush, and means for terminal of the motor,; the segment and brush being soadapted that the brush rests vupon the segment when the pivoted arm is in a positionsuch that the needle is upon an acting portion ofathe-ieeord but.not when" the record-isfinishegl;

5. In a gramophone the combination of an electric motora rotating record disk, a

- pivoted arm carrying a sound box and needle, an insulating conducting segment concentric with the arm pivot, a stationary brush, a lead from the conducting segment to one terminal of the motor, a second lead from the stationary brush to the other terminal of the motor, and means to prevent sparking between the segment and thebrush which are soadapted thatthe brush rests upon the segment when the pivoted arm is in a position such that the needle is upon an acting portion of the record but not when the record is finished.

6. In a gramophone the combination of an electric motor, a rotating record disk, an arm carrying a sound box and needle, an insulated conducting segment. concentric with the arm pivot, a stationary brush, a

lead from the conducting segment to one.

terminal of the motor, a second lead from thestationary brush to the other terminal of the motor, and a condenser connecting the conducting segment to the stationary brush which are so adapted that the brush rests upon the segment when the pivoted arm is in a position such that the needle is Witnesses:

FRANK P. NEWMAN, HERBERT COMBER.

\ upon an acting portion of the record but not i 

